Freedom and Democracy
Recently there has been much interest in the Russian Government and speculation about how Russia's political enemies are "dispensed" with. Alexander Litvinenko is just the newest name in a string of mysterious deaths of political dissidents from Russia, and it was perhaps just his questionable death by polonium-210 that caught media attention. Polonium-210 is only made in a nuclear reactor and therefore whoever poisoned Litvinenko must have had some serious connections. The accusation made by Litvnenko on his death bed was that President Putin himself was ultimately responsible for his death. Another concern was that at the time of the poisoning, Litvinenko was investigating the suspicious death of a Russian journalist who had also been critical of the Putin administration. These are just a few examples, but many more have surfaced, including that of the Forbes Magazine (Russian Edition) managing editor's murder several months back. He too, apparently was critical of the government and unfortunately was murdered by an unidentified contract killer. These allegations too of government involvement have recurred time and again, most notably with their accusers meeting a mysterious death. Or if your a financial dissident, perhaps that can be commuted to incarceration.
Whether or not these allegations of murder are true, the fact remains that someone, perhaps not the government is doing these acts. Leaders of other countries, including Britain and parts of Europe have voiced their concerns over what's happening in that country. A friend of Litvinenko's put it this way, "Those rogue people are, in my opinion, a direct responsibility of Mr Putin. They are the result of the ideology of falsely understood nationalism which is now being injected into the Russian people." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6184804.stm)
(Latest on Ex-spy death and contamination)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,233218,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6159927.stm
(Russia's Secret police)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6169414.stm